Fewer Shoppers, More In-Person Shopping on Thanksgiving Weekend – Outdoor Retailer’s The Daily

There were fewer shoppers overall than last year through the five-day period from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday, boosted with more in-person shopping, according to data shared by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and research firm Prosper Insights & Analytics on Tuesday.

An estimated 197 million shoppers went online and visited stores to hunt for Black Friday deals and shop for the holidays, down from 200.4 million last year but above NRF’s 183.4 million projection.

“Even with this year’s shortened shopping period and the multitude of early sales promotions from retailers, this past weekend exceeded expectations in terms of the sheer volume of shoppers,” said Matt Shay, president and CEO of NRF.

The results come from a survey of 3,055 adult consumers which was conducted between Nov. 27 and Dec. 1.

The number of in-store shoppers increased to 126 million consumers, up from 121.4 million in 2023. Online shopping was less popular this year, with 124.3 million shopping online this year compared to 134.2 million in 2023.

Over the course of the weekend:

• Black Friday was the most popular day for both in-store and online shopping, with 81.7 million people hitting the stores and 87.3 million browsing online.
• Saturday was another strong in-store shopping day, with 61.1 million shoppers.
• Cyber Monday was the second biggest day for online shopping, with 64.4 million consumers participating compared to 73.1 million in 2021. More online shoppers than ever are using their phones to shop, with 63% shopping on mobile devices.

Black Friday Sales Increase at Walkabout Outfitter

Suzanne Mayerchuk, CEO of Walkabout Outfitter, an outdoor retailer with six stores in Virginia, said its Black Friday sale results were better than ever.

All six stores had higher sales through the weekend compared to last year, and some stores saw increases as high as 40%, she said.

This year, Walkabout ran a sale to offload stale inventory and a scratch-off card promotion.

“Both went well, although the sale on stale inventory of course ate into our margin,” Mayerchuk said. “But even though it affected our margin, we still ended up with a higher margin dollar outcome due to the high increase in sales.”

Looking ahead to the holidays, Mayerchuk said she’s optimistic, but with a healthy dose of realism as well.

“November was awesome in general, but it had one extra Saturday than last year, and in between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we only have four weekends,” she said. “In general, five weekends are much better. I’m still very optimistic!”

Positive Outlook for Holiday

NRF’s Shay said its research also bodes well for the holidays.

Over Thanksgiving weekend, shoppers spent an average of $235 on holiday gifts, an $8 increase from last year, and clothing and accessories were the most popular gifts.

The shorter holiday period didn’t stop 38% of those surveyed from participating in sales that launched the week before Thanksgiving, and 52% still have at least half of their shopping to do.

NRF projects that holiday spending between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31 will grow between 2.5% and 3.5% compared to 2023, totaling between $979.5 billion and $989 billion.

Kate Robertson can be reached at [email protected].